Kathy Najimy Sounds Off

The "zaftig" and "plus size" comments are really getting people fired up, not the least of whom is Kathy Najimy. She wrote Andy, the Bravo producer, to tell him how disappointed she is with Heidi and Tim's comments.

Dearest Andy eye candy,

Hi Honey. I hope you are well. Congratulations on Project Runway -- I think it is by far the best reality show on TV. Smart, filmed so realistically like a true documentary, well produced, compelling, well done -- in fact I could watch an all-Project-Runway-all-day channel.

Sadly after last night's episode, I probably won't watch it again. Yes, I am one of the throngs who will miss sweet gorgeous talented Alison and her creations ... BUT, that is NOT why i am upset. Tonight I was aghast at the comments made about her model's size.

I understands both sides of this issue. On one hand, the world of fashion (and let's face it, fine art in general) favors a certain aesthetic that seems to preclude the body types and images many people would consider "real life". Being in retail that centers around fashion (sunwear), I understand the desire to see idealistic perfection. But I also understand the frustration many people feel when high fashion simply does not fit them, primarily because it was not made for them. I really don't have any answers, but as long as people continue to buy into the image being sold to them, I really don't see much change ahead.

Thank you Kathy

Wow! What a great letter.

Thanks for adding it to this board. As a mother of teenage girls, I feel that the body issue is a very important issue. Girls, teenagers and women all suffer from distorted body images at some point in their lives (that is my personal observation, not based on any research...).

I was really interested in Andy's response when he stated that they will be covering the size issue in tomorrow's episode.

As a "plus size" woman, I am interested to see what they will be doing.

My own opinion==why is it still ok to make weight a subject of joke, ridicule, etc?

I know that my weight gain has nothing to do with "sitting on the couch in front of the tv stuffing my face with junk food", but is due to an illness and steroid treatment for the illness.

Not everyone gains weight because they are lazy, that needs point of view needs to be put to rest ASAP. :nono

And, guess what Bravo and advertisers.... News Flash..."plus size" women do like to dress well and spend money to do so.

I am also glad that she has brought more attention to this matter. I hope Heidi is taking notes. I just think this whole thing is a real slap in the face to all of we average females who really are the ones supporting the fashion industry by buying the apparel, the fashion mags and watching shows like PR--only for them to tell us that clothes won't look right on us because we are not a size 0 or 2 or 4. We are zaftig and plus-sized.

There are several REAL plus sized women in my family (over a size 18) and I think they are all so beautiful and they wear very flattering clothes. These comments must be much more insulting to them, to think that a size 8 would warrant such disgust. Everyone is well aware that the modelling industry has their own standards, but that doesn't mean that they have to make the average female feel less worthy and less beautiful.

Heidi Klum is on the lookout for "Germany's Next Top Model." But on the way, her jury is chucking out the super thin because they are "too fat." Germans are not amused.

Irina's misfortune was her height-weight ratio -- she weighed 52 kilograms (114.5 pounds) and was 1.76 meters (5 feet 9 inches) tall. With that kind of body, Irina, 19, was used to being adoringly ogled, but on supermodel Heidi Klum's television show "Germany's Next Top-Model" her body became her downfall. "Too fat," was the verdict handed down by the show's jury. The svelte Irina was sent home.

It was a ruling that didn't stay in the television studio for long. Immediately, a debate erupted in the German press, with tabloid Bild at the vanguard, on just how much pressure is put on young women to be ultra thin in German and western societies. Stories on bulimia and anorexia began making their periodic appearances in the press and politicians likewise jumped into the fray.

"Such dimensions do not make a person fat," said German parliamentarian Gitta Connemann of the conservative Christian Democrats in criticizing the television jury's decision. On the contrary. "That girl is exceptionally slender, almost scrawny," Connemann told SPIEGEL ONLINE, but went on to point out that her being booted from the show is a clear indication of just how extreme standards for models have become.

She's not the only one. Politicians of all stripes have criticized the show as offering up the wrong role models for teenage girls -- exactly that demographic group most at risk of eating disorders. Participants have also complained. Candidate Celine, from Vienna, told the Austrian paper Heute that "the crew is constantly provoking the girls with comments about our weight. Even super skinny girls are judged as too fat."

The show, says Connemann, is "undignified" and makes her sad. "Young women are used to attract viewers. They show beautiful girls that delight the whole country -- and even that is likely an understatement."

The parliamentarian was also quick to point out that such shows are especially dangerous for young girls as they reach their puberty years. "They take the people in this show as the standard they should starve themselves down to," she says. As so often before, "such a show imparts the idea that beauty is the ticket to eternal fame, money and happiness."
But eating disorders aren't the only problems facing Germany's teens. More than a million Germans, according to Connemann, suffer from the syndrome dysmorphophobia -- under which patients are convinced that some part of their bodies is deformed or abnormal in some way. "They think they are excessively ugly, but often they are wonderful people," Connemann explains. "They may not be flawless, but they over-exaggerate the meaning of the small flaws they have. Pictures in magazines or in such shows often confirm their self-doubt," she said in reference to "Germany's Next Top-Model."

One of the frequent outcomes of dysmorphophobia is a trip to the plastic surgeon. Such operations are on the rise in Germany with up to a million being performed each year in the country across all age groups, Connemann says.

Despite the widespread critique, though, the show is going on. Indeed, there is no legal way to prevent the show from continuing, given that nothing in the show offends laws protecting youth in Germany from sex or violence.

The television station that airs the show, ProSieben, rejects the critique. "The show in no way encourages anorexia," the show's spokeswoman said. After all, Klum and the other members of the jury explain during each episode that a model must eat, must stay healthy and needs curves, the spokeswoman continued. "But of course the industry requires certain dimensions."

But even the show's jury seems unclear as to what exactly those dimensions are. In the show after Irina got her walking papers for being too fat, Anne, 17, was likewise given the boot -- this time for being too thin. Her dimensions? The same 52 kilograms (114.5 pounds) and 1.76 meters (5 feet 9 inches) as Irina.

Heidi doesn't make the rules. They were there when she got there and they'll be there when she leaves. The obsession is not her burdern to bare but rather all of ours who choose to buy into to what is pitched in our direction, which, by the way, is what some fellow mortal thought it should be (i.e. "we" made the rules and then "we" bought into them).

I have endured a life-long struggle with weight, yet I am bored and frustrated with the battle between the too-thins and too-fats of the world. IMHO, neither is right, and I am hopeful that this week's show will be a testament to not only what the average/normal femail figure is but what the average/normal female figure should be, i.e. a right in the middle of a Heidi Klum and a Kathy Najimy.

Sounds like the modelling world needs to take a reality pill. Most individuals would NEVER be a size 0, 2 or 4 and not even a size 6 - even if they were just skin and bones. There is something seriously wrong with the world if someone who is 5 ft 9in, and weighs 114.5 lbs is considered fat! The fashion industry, television and magazines need to start changing their tune, and start promoting healthy looking people, not stick figures. Why should everyone look like they can't afford to buy food? Perhaps if the media took a stand against overly thin models, the rest of the world would follow.
What happened to the old standards of beauty?? Today Marilyn Monroe and a lot of the other old glamorous icons would be considered fat! Sad but true.

The show has a golden opportunity to make some ground breaking changes to old stereotypes. It's a shame they did not take the opportunity when provided and elected to hold up the status quo. As someone who has fought weight all her life I am undecided if I will watch again. I love the show, but the comments about a woman who is teeny being zaftig? I was really bothered by it.

I love fashion and do not consider myself a physical failure because I have the unmitigated gall to be a size 12.

Heidi must have some input into the selection of the models. I hope she didn't pick a larger model just so she could criticize her on television. Heidi and Tim's comments were completely unnecessary and dangerous because of their influence on girls. I am beginning to think that what is really zaftig is Tim Gunn's head.